Over the weekend, I received an email from Microsoft stating that I will be charged $50 for another year of Xbox LIVE (which I wanted). The email reminded me that it's been one year since I've been using Xbox LIVE, so I thought I'd give a summary of the good and bad of using the service during the past year.
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload: This was my first LIVE title, and I was disappointed on how unplayable this game was even on a good connection. I spent considerable amount of time learning how to play the game, but it was no fun to see Faust execute special moves about a half-second after I inputted them.
Burnout 3: By the time I logged on, most of the EA server problems that plagued the online game during its launch was resolved. The experience was okay (didn't notice lag), but playing with people you don't know wasn't really fun, especially when they start arguing about the stupidest things, like how "England sucks because people have stupid accents".
Halo 2: This was the reason I got an Xbox, Optimum Online, and LIVE, and it was definitely worth it. It was awesome to play with the deluge of TNLers during the first couple of months, and even after 3/4 of TNL stopped playing Halo 2, it was still great to play with the remaining 1/4. I stopped playing in March and I haven't had the desire to play this game since (outside of a few instances), but now that most of the cheaters are gone and the new maps are free, I might pop this in every once in a while.
Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory: Halo 2 was the reason to get LIVE, but this game was the reason to keep it. If you got past the versus mode's incredibly steep learning curve, you were rewarded with excellent 2-on-2, cat vs mouse gameplay, which in some ways was better than Halo 2 online. And it offered online co-op as well (which absolutely rocked). I played this for nearly six months straight until I burned out of the versus mode in late August. Definitely got my bang for the buck for this game and the LIVE service, and I'll probably get back to it once Ubisoft releases the new versus map.
SF3 - Third Strike: I was surprised by this game because after the mess that was Guilty Gear, I didn't expect a smooth experience with such a game that required near-precise timing with parries and such. Capcom proved me wrong and, outside of a few hiccups, it was great to play one of the greatest 2D fighters ever with no lag. It has its flaws though; the game wasn't fully LIVE Aware, so I couldn't stay in Practice mode and let other LIVE users know that I was playing the game. And shame on Capcom for not penalizing droppers; it made fighting randoms undesirable.
Hyper SF2: This suffered from the stupid concept of not allowing the option to restrict fighters from one game (ex. only Super Turbo fighters, or only Hyper Fighting fighters). It also had lag, so like Guilty Gear, it was dead to me.
Phantom Dust: Although I got the game back in February, I didn't get to play it online until this past weekend (the reasons for the delay were Chaos Theory came out two weeks after I got it, wanted to beat the single-player mode before hopping online, and Pile-of-Shame worthy laziness). I wish I played this game online sooner because it's really, really good. Think arena fighting with destructible environments and a wide range of attacks, defense, & other skills. The gameplay resembles card-fighting games, but with a lot of action. If you're picking up a 360 and this game gets added to the backward-compatible list of games, get it. It's still $20 and you'll have a good time with it while you're waiting for the other good 360 games to come out after launch.
Burnout Revenge: I had the chance to play with some TNL folks this time online, and while it was fun, I burned out (ugh) of the game and just wanted to finish the single-player mode.
King of Fighters 2003: This came as a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much from 2003 because I thought SNK should have given up on KOF after KOF 2002. Instead, I got the first good KOF game since '98, and it played smoothly online. It was fully LIVE Aware (take that, Capcom!), it punished droppers, and even had a tournament mode (although unfortunately that sucked). Playing it with other TNL people who are also big KOF fans was fantastic and is currently one of my favorite games of the year.
KOF 2002: This on the other hand had a stupid online mode (you couldn't rematch the person you fought, you had to reinvite him after every match) and it was slow and laggy. Dead to me.
So that was my year of Xbox LIVE, and I'm sticking around because I want to keep playing the games I like. When I get around to buying a 360, I'll be looking forward to Splinter Cell 4, Halo 3, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, and King of Fighters XI.
So what have been your experiences with LIVE? If you still have it, why did you keep it? If you no longer have it, why did you ditch it? And if you have an Xbox but don't have LIVE, why didn't you get it?
